The first-ever FIG World Junior Championships was a showcase for the traditional power nations in the sport, with Japan leading the men’s events and Russia dominating the women.
It’s worth asking why a junior Worlds is necessary, with so many teenagers already competing at the senior level, but this championship was limited to men aged 16-17 and women of 14-15, ineligible to compete as seniors.
The big winner on the men’s size was Japan’s Takero Kitazono, who was part of the team winners plus the Pommel Horse and Parallel Bars for three golds. His teammate. Shinnosuke Oka, won the All-Around and the team event for two golds. China’s Haonan Yang won three medals with two silvers and a bronze.
Russia won the women’s team title, and Viktoriia Listunova, Vladislava Urazova and Elena Gerasimova all won additional events. Listunova won the All-Around and Floor to claim three golds, while Urasova took the Uneven Bars and Gerasimova won the Beam.
For the U.S., the star was Kayla di Cello, finishing fourth in the All-Around and won the Vault, and adding a bronze on the Beam. She made all four finals.
The final medal table showed Russia with 10 (5-3-2) and Japan second (7: 4-2-1). The U.S. had three medals (1-0-2) with di Cello’s two individual medals and a women’s team bronze, with di Cello, Sydney Barros and Skye Blakely. Summaries:
FIG World Junior Artistic Championships
Gyor (HUN) ~ 27-30 June 2019
(Full results here)
Men
Team: 1. Japan (Doi, Kitazono, Oka), 162.574; 2. Ukraine (Chepurnyi, Kostiuk, Kovtun), 159.828; 3. Italy (Bonicelli, Brunello, Casali), 159.179. Also: 7. United States (Garrett Braunton, Matthew Cormier, Isaiah Drake), 156.580.
All-Around: 1. Shinnosuke Oka (JPN), 80.674; 2. Ryosuke Doi (JPN), 80.447; 3. Illia Kovtun (UKR), 80.264. Also: 19. Garrett Braunton (USA), 77.107; … 21. Matthew Cormier (USA), 76.907.
Floor: 1. Sunghyun Ryu (KOR), 14.166; 2. Felix Dolci (CAN), 14.000; 3. Nazar Chepurnyi (UKR), 13.866. Also: 6. Cormier (USA), 13.566.
Pommel Horse: 1. Takeru Kitazono (JPN), 13.966; 2. Oka (JPN), 13.,766; 3. Edvins Rodevics (LAT), 13.233.
Rings: 1. Dolci (CAN), 13.600; 2. Diogo Soares (BRA), 13.500; 3. Haonan Yang (CHN), 13.475. Also: 4. Isaiah Drake (USA), 13.400; … 6. Braunton (USA), 13.333.
Vault: 1. Gabriel Burtanete (ROU), 14.424; 2. H. Yang (CHN), 14.300; 3. Jasper Smith-Gordon (GBR), 14.183.
Parallel Bars: 1. Kitazono (JPN), 14.266; 2. H. Yang (CHN), 13.900; 3. Oka (JPN), 13.766.
High Bar: 1. Chepurnyi (UKR), 13.700; 2. Ivan Gerget (RUS), 13.600; 3. Krisztian Balazs (HUN), 13.400.
Women
Team: 1. Russia (Gerasimova, Listunova, Urazova), 111.654; 2. China (Guan, Ou, Wei), 109.497; 3. United States (Sydney Barros, Skye Blakely, Kayla di Cello), 109.380.
All-Around: 1. Viktoriia Listunova (RUS), 55.323; 2. Vladislava Urazova (RUS), 55.298; 3. Yushan Ou (CHN), 54.931. Also: 4. Kayla di Cello (USA), 54.765; … 6. Sydney Barros (USA), 53.974; 7. Skye Blakely (USA), 53.407.
Vault: 1. di Cello (USA), 14.166; 2. Jennifer Gadirova (GBR), 14.133; 3. Urasova (RUS), 14.116. Also: 5. Barros (USA), 13.916.
Uneven Bars: 1. Urasova (RUS), 14.433; 2. Listunova (RUS), 14.200; 3. Xiaoyuan Wei (CHN), 13.800. Also: 4. Blakely (USA), 13.766; … 6. di Cello (USA), 13.500.
Beam: 1. Elena Gerasimova (RUS), 14.200; 2. Wei (CHN), 13.733; 3. di Cello (USA), 13.733.
Floor: 1. Listunova (RUS), 14.166; 2. Yushan Ou (CHN), 13.833; 3. Gerasimova (RUS), 13.533. Also: 5. Blakely (USA), 13.100; … 7. di Cello (USA), 12.966.